I’ve got low expectations for the upcoming Playstation All-Stars Battle Royal. In fact, not keeping it a secret has gotten me in quite a bit of trouble in the past. But I’m not the kind of writer who can be leashed in by things like “public opinion” and “editor concerns”, no SIR. I’m a renegade. And just like real renegades I might find myself unemployed by saying this, but: thank GOD Crash Bandicoot isn’t in the roster. It seems Sony has done SOMETHING right in the pitching of this game.

It’s probably the most common concern I’ve heard with the game: “Where’s Crash Bandicoot?!” “Crash was the Playstation Mascot back in the early days, why forsake him now?!” and so on. People seem really bothered by his exclusion, and have even started a petition… a petition which got a comfortably low amount of signatures, but still.

Frankly, this fan reaction has baffled me. Yeah, I can sort of see why having Crash would be nice, especially since the roster without him is mostly one big collection of white guys with hair problems. Hell, there are only two girls to choose from. Maybe one transgender depending on how literally you take the name “Sackboy”. I can also see why it’d be nice to have a callback to a simpler time when the Playstation was a new console and was only staying afloat due to the unprecedented support it received from third parties.

But even considering all that, we need to keep one very important thing in perspective: Crash is irrelevant. His latest PlayStation-exclusive game is over 12 years old, and every game made after that (and a few made before) were for multiple systems: at this point he’d qualify to fight in Super Smash Brothers. His latest title was Crash Bandicoot Nitro Racing 2, and it came out for mobile phones two years ago. Crash Bandicoot is a relic, a product of an earlier age: do you remember (I hope you don’t, for your own sake) the opening of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts? Well that’s Crash. That’s Crash Bandicoot right there. He didn’t go out with a bang, but a whimper, and no one even asks anymore “When will we get another Crash Bandicoot game?” And you know what? It’s better that way. Want proof? Look at Sonic the Hedgehog. See what happens when a franchise doesn’t fade out with dignity? See what happens when it struggles to be as relevant as it once was? It becomes a joke. It becomes hated. It becomes detested by its own fans because it humiliates itself when it tries desperately to re-capture that magic that once defined it.

Look at the modern “reboots” we’ve been getting of old franchises: Bionic Commando. Sonic the Hedgehog (2006). Kid Icarus: Uprising. Banjo-Kazooie. Prince of Persia. Duke Nukem Forever. Tales of Monkey Island. Wolfenstien. Splatterhouse. They’ve all been mediocre at best, and soul-crushingly terrible at worst. The few that do it right (XCOM and Skylanders, respectively) are so divorced from their original it’s basically just changing the of a different game entirely. I don’t think the gaming industry really has it in it yet to really be able to ‘reboot’ something successfully while staying true to the spirit of the original: maybe Devil May Cry will change that, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m not saying including Crash would inevitably be a sign that his franchise would be rebooted. I’m saying that you need to let things die. All things end (Ironically, that was the message of Sonic and the Black Knight), and its better they end with fond memories than bitter ones. Crash Bandicoot is gone. Let’s not dig up his corpse so he can dance pathetically for us on stage, a shallow ghost of what he once was. We have plenary of other irrelevant corpses in the character roster already, they don’t need competition.

…and before you say it, I’m not going to defend Nintendo’s decision to include Ice Climbers or Pitt to the Smash Brothers Roster. If I WAS going to defend it, I’d say that those characters were so irrelevant they were forgotten about, so they couldn’t exactly tarnish any memories.

Pit in SSBB really gave investors and fans the hope that we needed to recieve a sequel, even a sequel 20 somthing years late.

[edit] This isnt your work OP so this isnt directed at you. Althought the author's point about Pit is completly irrelevant

"They're all good at killing."-Omar Kendall IGN LIvestream [18:33] 11/14/12

I agree with the majority of his points, but including the Prince of Persia reboot in his example of failures ? That's crazy talk.

Everyone on here calling him an 'idiot' or anything of that sort are blinded by fanboyism in my opinion - he's not trashing the character, he's giving legitimate reasons as to why Crash's inclusion isn't vital, which I personally agree with.

and no, before someone starts crying I'm not saying your blind fanboys because you support the character, want him to be in the game or simply disagree with the posters opinion - your blind fanboys for bashing him for it.

S-o-h-a-i-l wrote:I agree with the majority of his points, but including the Prince of Persia reboot in his example of failures ? That's crazy talk.

Everyone on here calling him an 'idiot' or anything of that sort are blinded by fanboyism in my opinion - he's not trashing the character, he's giving legitimate reasons as to why Crash's inclusion isn't vital, which I personally agree with.

I questioned the Prince Of Persia thing too. Was he referring to the actually quite good Sands Of Time games or the not as good but still enjoyable 2008 game with Nathan Drake of Persia? I genuinely couldn't get my head around it.

Me, I don't think he's an idiot for the points he was making (I actually agree to a point), I think he's an idiot because he opened with a paragraph that basically said "I'm a renegade YEAH" which I thought made him sound immature and completely up his own arse

Fair enough, the 'renegade' comment made him look like a jacka** lol. Regardless of which PoP he was referring to, his view is in the minority, both versions were critically acclaimed. Other then that, his points on Crash were valid.